Method and apparatus for video signal processing using sub-block based motion compensation

ABSTRACT

A video signal processing method and apparatus for encoding or decoding a video signal is disclosed. More particularly, a video signal processing method and a video signal processing apparatus using the same are disclosed, wherein a method for processing a video signal comprises the steps of: obtaining a set of control point motion vectors for prediction of a current block; obtaining the motion vector of each sub-block of the current block using control point motion vectors of the set of control point motion vectors; obtaining a predictor of the each sub-block of the current block using the motion vectors of the each sub-block; obtaining a predictor of the current block by combining predictors of the each sub-block; and restoring the current block using the predictor of the current block.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing avideo signal using subblock-based motion compensation, and moreparticularly, to a video signal processing method and apparatus forpredicting a current block using a plurality of control point motionvectors.

BACKGROUND ART

Compression coding refers to a series of signal processing techniquesfor transmitting digitized information through a communication line orstoring information in a form suitable for a storage medium. An objectof compression encoding includes objects such as voice, video, and text,and in particular, a technique for performing compression encoding on animage is referred to as video compression. Compression coding for avideo signal is performed by removing excess information inconsideration of spatial correlation, temporal correlation, andstochastic correlation. However, with the recent development of variousmedia and data transmission media, a more efficient video signalprocessing method and apparatus are required.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Technical Problem

The present invention has an object to increase the coding efficiency ofa video signal.

In addition, the present invention has an object to efficiently performmotion compensation for zoom in/out, rotation, and other irregularmovements as well as conventional translational movements.

Technical Solution

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides thefollowing video signal processing apparatus and method for processing avideo signal.

First, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in relationto a method for processing a video signal processing comprising:obtaining a control point motion vector set for predicting a currentblock, wherein the control point motion vector set includes at least twocontrol point motion vectors respectively corresponding to specificcontrol points of the current block; obtaining a motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block using control point motion vectors of thecontrol point motion vector set; obtaining a predictor of each subblockof the current block using the motion vector of each subblock; obtaininga predictor of the current block by combining the predictor of eachsubblock; and reconstructing the current block using the predictor ofthe current block, wherein the obtaining of the control point motionvector set comprises: obtaining an indicator indicating a motion vectorinformation set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block; and obtaining control point motionvectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to themotion vector information set indicated by the indicator.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, inrelation to a video signal processing apparatus, the apparatus includesa processor obtain a control point motion vector set for predicting acurrent block, wherein the control point motion vector set includes atleast two control point motion vectors respectively corresponding tospecific control points of the current block; obtain a motion vector ofeach subblock of the current block using control point motion vectors ofthe control point motion vector set; obtain a predictor of each subblockof the current block using the motion vector of each subblock; obtain apredictor of the current block by combining the predictor of eachsubblock; and reconstruct the current block using the predictor of thecurrent block, wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating amotion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vectorof each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motionvectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to themotion vector information set indicated by the indicator.

The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprisesgenerating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vectorinformation set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors areobtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected basedon the indicator in the candidate list.

The motion vector information set candidate includes a first candidatederived from control point motion vectors of a left neighboring block ofthe current block and a second candidate derived from control pointmotion vectors of an upper neighboring block of the current block.

The left neighboring block includes a block adjacent to a lower leftcorner of the current block, wherein the upper neighboring blockincludes a block adjacent to an upper left corner of the current blockor a block adjacent to an upper right corner of the current block.

The motion vector information set candidate includes a third candidatecomposed of three control point motion vectors, and at least some of thethree control point motion vectors are derived from motion vectors ofneighboring blocks, wherein the third candidate composed of a firstcontrol point motion vector corresponding to an upper left corner of thecurrent block, a second control point motion vector corresponding to anupper right corner of the current block, and a third control pointcorresponding to a lower left corner of the current block.

The third candidate includes a motion vector information set in whichthe first control point motion vector and the second control pointmotion vector are respectively derived from motion vectors ofneighboring blocks, and the third control point motion vector iscalculated based on the first control point motion vector and the secondcontrol point motion vector.

The first control point motion vector is derived from a motion vector ofa block adjacent to an upper left corner of the current block, and thesecond control point motion vector is derived from a motion vector of ablock adjacent to an upper right corner of the current block.

The motion vector information set candidate includes a fourth candidatecomposed of two control point motion vectors derived from motion vectorsof neighboring blocks, wherein the fourth candidate includes: a motionvector information set composed of a first control point motion vectorcorresponding to an upper left corner of the current block and a secondcontrol point motion vector corresponding to an upper right corner ofthe current block; and a motion vector information set composed of afirst control point motion vector corresponding to an upper left cornerof the current block and a third control point motion vectorcorresponding to a lower left corner of the current block.

The indicator indicates location information of neighboring block(s)referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the currentblock among a plurality of neighboring blocks of the current block.

Advantageous Effects

According to an embodiment of the present invention, coding efficiencyof a video signal may be increased.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, motioncompensation for various types of motions can be efficiently performedusing subblock-based motion compensation.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a set ofmotion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for eachsubblock may be efficiently signaled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a video signal encoding apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a video signal decoding apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which a coding tree unit is divided intocoding units in a picture.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a method for signaling a division of aquad tree and a multi-type tree.

FIG. 5 shows inter prediction according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 shows affine motion compensation according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a 4-parameter affine motion compensationmethod.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a subblock-based affine motioncompensation method.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show embodiments of the invention for obtaining a controlpoint motion vector set for prediction of the current block.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of a 6-parameter affine motion compensationmethod.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of obtaining a control point motionvector set for affine motion compensation.

FIG. 13 shows an affine motion compensation method combined with localsearch.

FIG. 14 shows a template matching method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 15 to 19 show detailed embodiments of an affine motioncompensation method combined with local search.

FIG. 20 shows an affine motion compensation method according to afurther embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 22 to 27 show detailed embodiments of subblock-based temporalmotion vector prediction.

FIG. 28 shows an adaptive loop filter according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 29 shows a filtering process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 30 shows a filtering process according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 31 shows a filter shape according to a further embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 32 shows a method for calculating sample characteristics accordingto a further embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 shows a method for reusing filter coefficients according to afurther embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 shows a filtering process according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Terms used in this specification may be currently widely used generalterms in consideration of functions in the present invention but mayvary according to the intents of those skilled in the art, customs, orthe advent of new technology. Additionally, in certain cases, there maybe terms the applicant selects arbitrarily and, in this case, theirmeanings are described in a corresponding description part of thepresent invention. Accordingly, terms used in this specification shouldbe interpreted based on the substantial meanings of the terms andcontents over the whole specification.

In this specification, some terms may be interpreted as follows. Codingmay be interpreted as encoding or decoding in some cases. In the presentspecification, an apparatus for generating a video signal bitstream byperforming encoding (coding) of a video signal is referred to as anencoding apparatus or an encoder, and an apparatus that performsdecoding (decoding) of a video signal bitstream to reconstruct a videosignal is referred to as a decoding apparatus or decoder. In addition,in this specification, the video signal processing apparatus is used asa term of a concept including both an encoder and a decoder. Informationis a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.In some cases, the meaning is interpreted differently, so the presentinvention is not limited thereto. ‘Unit’ is used as a meaning to referto a basic unit of image processing or a specific position of a picture,and refers to an image region including both a luma component and achroma component. In addition, ‘block’ refers to an image regionincluding a specific component among luma components and chromacomponents (i.e., Cb and Cr). However, depending on the embodiment,terms such as ‘unit’, ‘block’, ‘partition’ and ‘region’ may be usedinterchangeably. In addition, in this specification, a unit may be usedas a concept including all of a coding unit, a prediction unit, and atransform unit. The picture indicates a field or frame, and according toan embodiment, the terms may be used interchangeably.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a video signal encoding apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.1, the encoding apparatus 100 of the present invention includes atransformation unit 110, a quantization unit 115, an inversequantization unit 120, an inverse transformation unit 125, a filteringunit 130, a prediction unit 150, and an entropy coding unit 160.

The transformation unit 110 obtains a value of a transform coefficientby transforming a residual signal, which is a difference between theinputted video signal and the predicted signal generated by theprediction unit 150. For example, a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), aDiscrete Sine Transform (DST), or a Wavelet Transform can be used. TheDCT and DST perform transformation by splitting the input picture signalinto blocks. In the transformation, coding efficiency may vary accordingto the distribution and characteristics of values in the transformationregion. The quantization unit 115 quantizes the value of the transformcoefficient value outputted from the transformation unit 110.

In order to improve coding efficiency, instead of coding the picturesignal as it is, a method of predicting a picture using a region alreadycoded through the prediction unit 150 and obtaining a reconstructedpicture by adding a residual value between the original picture and thepredicted picture to the predicted picture is used. In order to preventmismatches in the encoder and decoder, information that can be used inthe decoder should be used when performing prediction in the encoder.For this, the encoder performs a process of reconstructing the encodedcurrent block again. The inverse quantization unit 120 inverse-quantizesthe value of the transform coefficient, and the inverse transformationunit 125 reconstructs the residual value using the inverse quantizedtransform coefficient value. Meanwhile, the filtering unit 130 performsfiltering operations to improve the quality of the reconstructed pictureand to improve the coding efficiency. For example, a deblocking filter,a sample adaptive offset (SAO), and an adaptive loop filter may beincluded. The filtered picture is outputted or stored in a decodedpicture buffer (DPB) 156 for use as a reference picture.

The prediction unit 150 includes an intra prediction unit 152 and aninter prediction unit 154. The intra prediction unit 152 performs intraprediction in the current picture, and the inter prediction unit 154performs inter prediction to predict the current picture by using thereference picture stored in the DPB 156. The intra prediction unit 152performs intra prediction from reconstructed samples in the currentpicture, and transmits intra coding information to the entropy codingunit 160. The intra encoding information may include at least one of anintra prediction mode, a Most Probable Mode (MPM) flag, and an MPMindex. The inter prediction unit 154 may include a motion estimationunit 154 a and a motion compensation unit 154 b. The motion estimationunit 154 a refers to a specific region of the reconstructed referencepicture to obtain a motion vector value of the current region. Themotion estimation unit 154 a transmits motion information (referencepicture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference regionto the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154 bperforms motion compensation using the motion vector value transmittedfrom the motion estimation unit 154 a. The inter prediction unit 154transmits inter encoding information including motion information on areference region to the entropy coding unit 160.

When the picture prediction described above is performed, thetransformation unit 110 transforms a residual value between the originalpicture and the predicted picture to obtain a transform coefficientvalue. In this case, the transformation may be performed in a specificblock unit within a picture, and the size of a specific block may bevaried within a preset range. The quantization unit 115 quantizes thetransform coefficient value generated in the transformation unit 110 andtransmits it to the entropy coding unit 160.

The entropy coding unit 160 entropy-codes quantized transformcoefficients, intra coding information, and inter coding information togenerate a video signal bitstream. In the entropy coding unit 160, avariable length coding (VLC) method, an arithmetic coding method, or thelike can be used. The VLC method transforms inputted symbols intosuccessive codewords, and the length of the codewords may be variable.For example, frequently occurring symbols are expressed as shortcodewords, and less frequently occurring symbols are expressed as longcodewords. As the VLC method, a context-based adaptive variable lengthcoding (CAVLC) method may be used. Arithmetic coding transformssuccessive data symbols into a single decimal point, and arithmeticcoding can obtain the optimal number of decimal bits needed to representeach symbol. As arithmetic coding, context-based adaptive arithmeticcoding (CABAC) may be used.

The generated bitstream is encapsulated using a network abstractionlayer (NAL) unit as a basic unit. The NAL unit includes an integernumber of coded coding tree units. In order to decode a bitstream in avideo decoder, first, the bitstream must be separated in NAL units, andthen each separated NAL unit must be decoded. Meanwhile, informationnecessary for decoding a video signal bitstream may be transmittedthrough an upper level set of Raw Byte Sequence Payload (RBSP) such asPicture Parameter Set (PPS), Sequence Parameter Set (SPS), VideoParameter Set (VPS), and the like.

Meanwhile, the block diagram of FIG. 1 shows an encoding apparatus 100according to an embodiment of the present invention, and separatelydisplayed blocks logically distinguish and show the elements of theencoding apparatus 100. Accordingly, the elements of the above-describedencoding apparatus 100 may be mounted as one chip or as a plurality ofchips depending on the design of the device. According to an embodiment,the operation of each element of the above-described encoding apparatus100 may be performed by a processor (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a video signal decoding apparatus200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 2, the decoding apparatus 200 of the present invention includes anentropy decoding unit 210, an inverse quantization unit 220, an inversetransformation unit 225, a filtering unit 230, and a predictor unit 250.

The entropy decoding unit 210 entropy-decodes a video signal bitstream,and extracts transform coefficients, intra encoding information, andinter encoding information for each region. The inverse quantizationunit 220 inverse-quantizes the entropy decoded transform coefficient,and the inverse transformation unit 225 reconstructs the residual valueusing the inverse quantized transform coefficient. The video signalprocessing apparatus 200 reconstructs the original pixel value by addingthe residual value obtained in the inverse transformation unit 225 andthe prediction value obtained in the prediction unit 250.

Meanwhile, the filtering unit 230 performs filtering on a picture toimprove image quality. This may include a deblocking filter for reducingblock distortion and/or an adaptive loop filter for removing distortionof the entire picture. The filtered picture is outputted or stored inthe DPB 256 for use as a reference picture for the next picture.

The prediction unit 250 includes an intra prediction unit 252 and aninter prediction unit 254. The prediction unit 250 generates aprediction picture by using the encoding type decoded through theentropy decoding unit 210 described above, transform coefficients foreach region, and intra/inter encoding information. In order toreconstruct a current block in which decoding is performed, a decodedregion of the current picture or other pictures including the currentblock may be used. In a reconstruction, only a current picture, that is,a picture (or, tile/slice) that performs only intra prediction, iscalled an intra picture or an I picture (or, tile/slice), and a picture(or, tile/slice) that can perform both intra prediction and interprediction is called an inter picture (or, tile/slice). In order topredict sample values of each block among inter pictures (or,tiles/slices), a picture (or, tile/slice) using up to one motion vectorand a reference picture index is called a predictive picture or Ppicture (or, tile/slice), and a picture (or tile/slice) using up to twomotion vectors and a reference picture index is called a bi-predictivepicture or a B picture (or tile/slice). In other words, the P picture(or, tile/slice) uses up to one motion information set to predict eachblock, and the B picture (or, tile/slice) uses up to two motioninformation sets to predict each block. Here, the motion information setincludes one or more motion vectors and one reference picture index.

The intra prediction unit 252 generates a prediction block using theintra encoding information and reconstructed samples in the currentpicture. As described above, the intra encoding information may includeat least one of an intra prediction mode, a Most Probable Mode (MPM)flag, and an MPM index. The intra prediction unit 252 predicts thesample values of the current block by using the reconstructed sampleslocated on the left and/or upper side of the current block as referencesamples. In this specification, samples and sample values may refer topixels and pixel values, respectively. According to an embodiment, thereference samples may be samples adjacent to the left boundary line ofthe current block and/or samples adjacent to the upper boundary line.According to another embodiment, the reference samples may be samplesadjacent within a predetermined distance from the left boundary of thecurrent block and/or samples adjacent within a predetermined distancefrom the upper boundary of the current block. The intra prediction unit252 determines reference samples based on the intra prediction mode ofthe current block, and predicts samples of the current block using thedetermined reference samples. The intra prediction mode of the currentblock may be determined through separately signaled indexes (e.g., intraprediction mode index, MPM index, etc.). When the MPM index is signaled,the intra prediction unit 252 may perform intra prediction using anintra prediction mode applied to neighboring blocks or a predeterminedintra prediction mode. In this case, the neighboring block of thecurrent block may include the left (L) block, the upper (A) block, thebelow left (BL) block, the above right (AR) block, or the above left(AL) block.

The inter prediction unit 254 generates a prediction block usingreference pictures and inter encoding information stored in the DPB 256.The inter coding information may include motion information (referencepicture index, motion vector information, etc.) of the current block forthe reference block. Inter prediction may include L0 prediction, L1prediction, and bi-prediction. L0 prediction means prediction using onereference picture included in the L0 picture list, and L1 predictionmeans prediction using one reference picture included in the L1 picturelist. For this, one set of motion information (e.g., motion vector andreference picture index) may be required. In the bi-prediction method,up to two reference regions may be used, and the two reference regionsmay exist in the same reference picture or may exist in differentpictures. That is, in the bi-prediction method, up to two sets of motioninformation (e.g., a motion vector and a reference picture index) may beused and two motion vectors may correspond to the same reference pictureindex or different reference picture indexes. In this case, thereference pictures may be displayed (or outputted) both before and afterthe current picture in time aspect.

The inter prediction unit 254 may obtain a reference block of thecurrent block using a motion vector and a reference picture index. Thereference block is in a reference picture corresponding to a referencepicture index. Also, a sample value of a block specified by a motionvector or an interpolated value thereof can be used as a predictor ofthe current block. For motion prediction with sub-pel unit pixelaccuracy, for example, an 8-tap interpolation filter for a luma signaland a 4-tap interpolation filter for a chroma signal can be used.However, the interpolation filter for motion prediction in sub-pel unitsis not limited thereto. In this way, the inter prediction unit 254performs motion compensation to predict the texture of the current unitfrom motion pictures reconstructed previously using motion information.

The reconstructed video picture is generated by adding the predictorvalue outputted from the intra prediction unit 252 or the interprediction unit 254 and the residual value outputted from the inversetransformation unit 225. That is, the video signal decoding apparatus200 reconstructs the current block using the prediction block generatedby the prediction unit 250 and the residual obtained from the inversetransformation unit 225.

Meanwhile, the block diagram of FIG. 2 shows a decoding apparatus 200according to an embodiment of the present invention, and separatelydisplayed blocks logically distinguish and show the elements of thedecoding apparatus 200. Accordingly, the elements of the above-describeddecoding apparatus 200 may be mounted as one chip or as a plurality ofchips depending on the design of the device. According to an embodiment,the operation of each element of the above-described decoding apparatus200 may be performed by a processor (not shown).

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment in which a coding tree unit (CTU) issplit into coding units (CUs) in a picture. In the coding process of avideo signal, a picture may be split into a sequence of coding treeunits (CTUs). The coding tree unit is composed of an N×N block of lumasamples and two blocks of chroma samples corresponding thereto. Thecoding tree unit can be split into a plurality of coding units. Thecoding tree unit is not split and may be a leaf node. In this case, thecoding tree unit itself may be a coding unit. The coding unit refers toa basic unit for processing a picture in the process of processing thevideo signal described above, that is, intra/inter prediction,transformation, quantization, and/or entropy coding. The size and shapeof the coding unit in one picture may not be constant. The coding unitmay have a square or rectangular shape. The rectangular coding unit (orrectangular block) includes a vertical coding unit (or vertical block)and a horizontal coding unit (or horizontal block). In the presentspecification, the vertical block is a block whose height is greaterthan the width, and the horizontal block is a block whose width isgreater than the height. Further, in this specification, a non-squareblock may refer to a rectangular block, but the present invention is notlimited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 3, the coding tree unit is first split into a quadtree (QT) structure. That is, one node having a 2N×2N size in a quadtree structure may be split into four nodes having an N×N size. In thepresent specification, the quad tree may also be referred to as aquaternary tree. Quad tree split can be performed recursively, and notall nodes need to be split with the same depth.

Meanwhile, the leaf node of the above-described quad tree may be furthersplit into a multi-type tree (MTT) structure. According to an embodimentof the present invention, in a multi-type tree structure, one node maybe split into a binary or ternary tree structure of horizontal orvertical division. That is, in the multi-type tree structure, there arefour split structures such as vertical binary split, horizontal binarysplit, vertical ternary split, and horizontal ternary split. Accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, in each of the treestructures, the width and height of the nodes may all have powers of 2.For example, in a binary tree (BT) structure, a node of a 2N×2N size maybe split into two N×2N nodes by vertical binary split, and split intotwo 2N×N nodes by horizontal binary split. In addition, in a ternarytree (TT) structure, a node of a 2N×2N size is split into (N/2)×2N,N×2N, and (N/2)×2N nodes by vertical ternary split, and split into2N×(N/2), 2N×N, and 2N×(N/2) nodes by horizontal ternary split. Thismulti-type tree split can be performed recursively.

The leaf node of the multi-type tree can be a coding unit. If the codingunit is not too large for the maximum transform length, the coding unitis used as a unit of prediction and transform without further division.On the other hand, at least one of the following parameters in theabove-described quad tree and multi-type tree may be predefined ortransmitted through a higher level set of RBSPs such as PPS, SPS, VPS,and the like. 1) CTU size: root node size of quad tree, 2) minimum QTsize MinQtSize: minimum allowed QT leaf node size, 3) maximum BT sizeMaxBtSize: maximum allowed BT root node size, 4) Maximum TT sizeMaxTtSize: maximum allowed TT root node size, 5) Maximum MTT depthMaxMttDepth: maximum allowed depth of MTT split from QT's leaf node, 6)Minimum BT size MinBtSize: minimum allowed BT leaf node size, 7) MinimumTT size MinTtSize: minimum allowed TT leaf node size.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a method for signaling the split of a quadtree and a multi-type tree. Preset flags may be used to signal the splitof the above-described quad tree and multi-type tree. Referring to FIG.4, at least one of a flag ‘qt_split_flag’ indicating whether to splitthe quad tree node, a flag ‘mtt_split_flag’ indicating whether to splitthe multi-type tree node, a flag ‘mtt_split_vertical_flag’ indicating asplit direction of a multi-type tree node, or a flag‘mtt_split_binary_flag’ indicating a split shape of a multi-type treenode may be used.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the coding treeunit is a root node of a quad tree, and can be first split into a quadtree structure. In the quad tree structure, ‘qt_split_flag’ is signaledfor each node ‘QT_node’. If the value of ‘qt_split_flag’ is 1, the nodeis split into 4 square nodes, and if the value of ‘qt_split_flag’ is 0,the corresponding node becomes the leaf node ‘QT_leaf_node’ of the quadtree.

Each quad tree leaf node ‘QT_leaf_node’ may be further split into amulti-type tree structure. In the multi-type tree structure,‘mtt_split_flag’ is signaled for each node ‘MTT_node’. When the value of‘mtt_split_flag’ is 1, the corresponding node is split into a pluralityof rectangular nodes, and when the value of ‘mtt_split_flag’ is 0, thecorresponding node is a leaf node ‘MTT_leaf_node’ of the multi-typetree. When the multi-type tree node ‘MTT_node’ is split into a pluralityof rectangular nodes (i.e., when the value of ‘mtt_split_flag’ is 1),‘mtt_split_vertical_flag’ and ‘mtt_split_binary_flag’ for the node‘MTT_node’ may be additionally signaled. When the value of‘mtt_split_vertical_flag’ is 1, vertical split of node ‘MTT_node’ isindicated, and when the value of ‘mtt_split_vertical_flag’ is 0,horizontal split of node ‘MTT_node’ is indicated. In addition, when thevalue of ‘mtt_split_binary_flag’ is 1, the node ‘MTT_node’ is split into2 rectangular nodes, and when the value of ‘mtt_split_binary_flag’ is 0,the node ‘MTT_node’ is split into 3 rectangular nodes.

FIG. 5 shows inter prediction according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As described above, the decoder predicts the current block byreferring to reconstructed samples of another decoded picture. Referringto FIG. 5, the decoder obtains a reference block 42 in the referencepicture based on the motion information of the current block 32. In thiscase, the motion information may include a reference picture index and amotion vector 50. The reference picture index indicates a referencepicture of the current block in the reference picture list. In addition,the motion vector 50 represents an offset between the coordinate valuesof the current block 32 in the current picture and the coordinate valuesof the reference block 42 in the reference picture. The decoder obtainsthe predictor of the current block 32 based on the sample values of thereference block 42 and reconstructs the current block 32 using thepredictor.

Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present invention,subblock-based motion compensation may be used. That is, the currentblock 32 is divided into a plurality of subblocks, and independentmotion vectors may be used for each subblock. Therefore, each subblockin the current block 32 may be predicted using a different referenceblock. According to one embodiment, the subblock may have apredetermined size, such as 4×4 or 8×8. The decoder obtains a predictorof each subblock of the current block 32 using the motion vector of eachsubblock. The predictor of the current block 32 may be obtained bycombining the predictors of each subblock, and the decoder mayreconstruct the current block 32 using the predictor of the obtainedcurrent block 32.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, subblock-basedmotion compensation of various methods may be performed. Subblock-basedmotion compensation may include affine model-based motion compensation(hereinafter, affine motion compensation or affine motion prediction)and subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP).Hereinafter, various embodiments of affine motion compensation andSbTMVP will be described with reference to each drawing.

FIG. 6 shows affine motion compensation according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. According to the existing inter predictionmethod, since inter prediction is performed using only one motion vectorfor each L0 prediction and L1 prediction for the current block, it isoptimized for prediction of translation motion. However, in order toefficiently perform motion compensation for zoom in/out, rotation, andother irregular movements, reference blocks 44 of various shapes andsizes need to be used.

Referring to FIG. 6, in affine motion compensation, prediction of thecurrent block 34 may be performed using the reference block 44 having adifferent size, shape, and/or direction from the current block 34. Thatis, the reference block 44 may have a non-rectangular shape, and may belarger or smaller in size than the current block 34. The reference block44 may be obtained by performing affine transformation on the currentblock 34. The affine transformation may include a six-parameter affinetransformation using three control point motion vectors (CPMV) and afour-parameter affine transformation using two control point motionvectors. A specific embodiment relating to this will be described later.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a 4-parameter affine motion compensationmethod. In order to reduce the computational amount and signalingoverhead of affine transformation, affine motion prediction may beperformed using a predetermined number of control point motion vectors(CPMVs). The control point motion vector (CPMV) is a motion vectorcorresponding to a specific control point (or sample position) of thecurrent block. The specific control point may include at least one ofthe edges of the current block. In an embodiment of the presentinvention, the CPMV corresponding to the upper left corner of thecurrent block is referred to as v0 (or first CPMV), the CPMVcorresponding to the upper right corner of the current block is referredto as v1 (or second CPMV), and the CPMV corresponding to the lower leftcorner of the current block is referred to as v2 (or third CPMV). A CPMVset including at least two CPMVs may be used for affine motionprediction.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 7, 4-parameter affine motionprediction may be performed using v0 and v1. The current block 36indicated by a solid line may be predicted using the reference block 46at a position indicated by a dotted line. Each sample of the currentblock 36 may be mapped to a different reference sample through affinetransformation. More specifically, the motion vectors (v_(x), v_(y)) atthe sample positions (x, y) of the current block 36 may be derived byEquation 1 below.

$\begin{matrix}\left\{ \begin{matrix}{v_{x} = {{\frac{\left( {v_{1x} - v_{0x}} \right.}{w}x} - {\frac{\left( {v_{1y} - v_{0y}} \right.}{w}y} + v_{0x}}} \\{v_{y} = {{\frac{\left( {v_{1y} - v_{0y}} \right.}{w}x} + {\frac{\left( {v_{1x} - v_{0x}} \right)}{w}y} + v_{0y}}}\end{matrix} \right. & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, (v_(0x), v_(0y)) is the first CPMV corresponding to the upper leftcorner of the current block 36, and (v_(1x), v_(1y)) is the second CPMVcorresponding to the upper right corner of the current block. Inaddition, w is the width of the current block 36.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a subblock-based affine motioncompensation method. As described above, when using the affine motiontransform, motion vectors (i.e., motion vector fields) at each sampleposition of the current block may be derived. However, in order toreduce the amount of computation, subblock-based affine motioncompensation may be performed according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 8, the current block may include a pluralityof subblocks, and a representative motion vector of each subblock isobtained based on the CPMV set. According to an embodiment, therepresentative motion vector of each subblock may be a motion vectorcorresponding to a sample position of the center of the subblock.According to a further embodiment, a motion vector with higher accuracythan a general motion vector may be used as a motion vector of asubblock. For this, a motion compensation interpolation filter may beapplied.

The size of the subblock on which affine motion compensation isperformed may be set in various ways. According to one embodiment of thepresent invention, the subblock may have a predetermined size, such as4×4 or 8×8. According to another embodiment of the present invention,the size M×N of the subblock may be determined by Equation 2 below.

$\quad\begin{matrix}\left\{ \begin{matrix}{M = {{clip}\; 3\left( {4,w,\frac{w \times {MvPre}}{\max \left( {{{abs}\left( {v_{2x} - v_{0x}} \right)},{{abs}\left( {v_{1y}v_{0y}} \right)}} \right)}} \right)}} \\{N = {{clip}\; 3\left( {4,h,\frac{h \times {MvPre}}{\max \left( {{{abs}\left( {v_{2x} - v_{0x}} \right)},{{abs}\left( {v_{2y} - v_{0y}} \right)}} \right)}} \right)}}\end{matrix} \right. & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, w is the width of the current block, and MvPre is the fractionalaccuracy of the motion vector. (v2_(x), v2_(y)) is a third CPMVcorresponding to the lower left corner of the current block, and may becalculated by Equation 1 according to an embodiment. max(a, b) is afunction that returns the larger of a and b, and abs(x) is a functionthat returns the absolute value of x. In addition, clip3(x, y, z) is afunction that returns x if z<x, y if z>y, and z otherwise.

The decoder obtains motion vectors of each subblock of the current blockusing CPMVs of the CPMV set. In addition, the decoder obtains thepredictor of each subblock using the motion vector of each subblock, andcombines the predictors of each subblock to obtain the predictor of thecurrent block. The decoder may reconstruct the current block using thepredictor of the obtained current block.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show embodiments of the present invention for obtaining acontrol point motion vector set for prediction of the current block.According to an embodiment of the present invention, a CPMV set forprediction of a current block may be obtained in various ways. Morespecifically, the CPMV set for prediction of the current block may beobtained by referring to a motion vector information set of one or moreneighboring blocks.

In an embodiment of the present invention, motion vector information mayindicate a motion vector of a corresponding block or a CPMV of acorresponding block. Also, the motion vector information set refers to aset of motion vector information of one or more blocks. The neighboringblock may refer to a block including a predetermined neighboringposition of the current block. In this case, the neighboring block maybe a coding unit including a predetermined neighboring location or anarea of a predetermined unit (e.g., 4×4, 8×8) including the neighboringlocation.

There may be multiple candidates that may be referenced to derive CPMVsof the current block. Therefore, information about a neighboring blockto be referenced may be separately signaled to derive CPMVs of thecurrent block. According to an embodiment of the present invention, anindicator indicating a set of motion vector information to be referencedmay be signaled to derive a motion vector of each subblock of thecurrent block.

The indicator may indicate a motion vector information set ofneighboring block(s) to be referenced to derive a motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block. The decoder may obtain the indicator andmay obtain each CPMV of the CPMV set for the current block by referringto the motion vector information set of the neighboring block(s)indicated by the indicator. According to a more specific embodiment, thedecoder may generate a candidate list composed of one or more motionvector information set candidates. Each motion vector information setcandidate constituting the candidate list is a motion vector set ofneighboring blocks available to derive motion vector information of thecurrent block. In this case, the indicator may be an index indicatingany one motion vector information set from the candidate list. CPMVs ofthe current block may be obtained by referring to a motion vectorinformation set selected based on the indicator (i.e., index) amongcandidate lists. Hereinafter, various embodiments of a motion vectorinformation set candidate that may be included in a candidate list forderiving motion vector information (or CPMV set) of the current blockwill be described.

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of obtaining the CPMV set of the currentblock. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, it is assumed that the CPMV set ofthe current block includes two CPMVs, that is, v0 and v1. According toan embodiment of the present invention, the CPMV of the current blockmay be derived from a motion vector of a neighboring block adjacent tothe corresponding point. Referring to FIG. 9, v0 may be derived from amotion vector of one of neighboring blocks A, B, and C adjacent to thecorresponding point, and v1 may be derived from a motion vector of oneof neighboring blocks D and E adjacent to the corresponding point. Whenthe motion vectors of neighboring blocks A, B, C, D, and E are calledvA, vB, vC, vD, and vE, respectively, the motion vector information setthat may be included in the candidate list may be derived as in Equation3 below.

((v0,v1)|v0={vA,vB,vC},v1={vD,vE})  Equation 31

That is, a pair (v0, v1) composed of v0 selected from vA, vB, and vC andv1 selected from vD and vE may be obtained. In this case, v0 is derivedfrom the motion vector of the block adjacent to the upper left corner ofthe current block, and v1 is derived from the motion vector of the blockadjacent to the upper right corner of the current block. According to afurther embodiment, motion vector scaling may be performed based on apicture order count (POC) of a current block, a POC of a referencepicture of a neighboring block, and a POC of a reference picture of acurrent block.

A candidate list including the obtained motion vector information setcandidate may be generated, and an indicator indicating one motionvector information set of the candidate list may be signaled. Accordingto a further embodiment of the present invention, the candidate list mayinclude a motion vector information set candidate for inter predictionof other methods. For example, the candidate list may include a motionvector information set candidate for subblock-based temporal motionvector prediction (SbTMVP).

The decoder may derive CPMVs of the current block based on the motionvector information set obtained from the candidate list. According to anembodiment, the decoder may perform affine merge prediction by usingmotion vectors of a motion vector information set obtained from acandidate list as a CPMV of a current block without a separate motionvector difference value. According to another embodiment, the decodermay obtain a separate motion vector difference value for CPMV of thecurrent block. The decoder may obtain the CPMV of the current block byadding the motion vector of the motion vector information set obtainedfrom the candidate list to the motion vector difference value. A flag orindex indicating whether a decoder uses a separate motion vectordifference value for affine motion compensation of a current block maybe signaled separately.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of obtaining the CPMV set of thecurrent block. According to another embodiment of the present invention,the CPMV of the current block may be derived from motion vectorinformation of a neighboring block on which affine motion compensationis performed, that is, the CPMV or motion vector of a neighboring block.In this case, the neighboring block may include a left neighboring blockof the current block and an upper neighboring block of the currentblock. Referring to FIG. 10(a), the left neighboring block includesblocks adjacent to the lower left corner of the current block, that is,the left block A and the lower left block D. Further, the upperneighboring block includes a block adjacent to the upper left corner ofthe current block, that is, the upper left block E, and blocks adjacentto the upper right corner of the current block, that is, the upper blockB and the upper right block C. The decoder checks whether affine motioncompensation is performed on neighboring blocks in a predeterminedorder.

When a neighboring block on which affine motion compensation isperformed is found, the decoder obtains the CPMV set of the currentblock using the CPMV set (or motion vector) of the neighboring block.Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 10(b), the CPMV set of the leftblock A may be used to derive the CPMV set of the current block. Thatis, the CPMV set (v0, v1) of the current block may be obtained based onthe CPMV set (v2, v3, v4) of the left block A.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, information on aneighboring block to be referenced may be separately signaled to derivethe CPMV of the current block. In this case, the CPMV sets ofneighboring blocks of the current block may be motion vector informationset candidates that constitute the above-described candidate listaccording to a predetermined order. More specifically, the motion vectorinformation set candidate may include a first candidate derived fromCPMVs (or motion vectors) of the left neighboring block of the currentblock, and a second candidate derived from CPMVs (or motion vectors) ofthe upper neighboring block of the current block. In this case, the leftneighboring block is a block adjacent to the lower left corner of thecurrent block, and the upper neighboring block is a block adjacent tothe upper left corner of the current block or a block adjacent to theupper right corner of the current block. A candidate list including theobtained motion vector information set candidate may be generated, andan indicator indicating one motion vector information set of thecandidate list may be signaled. According to an embodiment, theindicator may indicate location information of neighboring block(s)referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the currentblock. The decoder may obtain the CPMV set of the current block byreferring to the CPMV set (or motion vector) of the neighboring blockindicated by the indicator.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the CPMV ofthe current block may be derived based on the CPMV of the neighboringblock close to the corresponding point. For example, v0 may be obtainedby referring to CPMV of the left neighboring block, and v1 may beobtained by referring to CPMV of the upper neighboring block.Alternatively, v0 may be obtained by referring to CPMV of neighboringblocks A, D or E, and v1 may be obtained by referring to CPMV ofneighboring blocks B or C.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of a 6-parameter affine motion compensationmethod. For accurate prediction of more complex motions, affine motionprediction using three or more CPMVs may be performed. Referring to FIG.11, 6-parameter affine motion compensation may be performed using threeCPMVs, i.e., v0, v1, and v2. Here, v0 is a CPMV corresponding to theupper left corner of the current block, v1 is a CPMV corresponding tothe upper right corner of the current block, and v2 is a CPMVcorresponding to the lower left corner of the current block. The motionvector of each subblock of the current block may be calculated based onthe v0, v1 and v2.

In the 6-parameter affine model, each CPMV may be obtained in differentways. Each CPMV may be explicitly signaled, derived from motion vectorinformation of neighboring blocks, or calculated from other CPMVs of thecurrent block. In a more specific embodiment, at least some of the threeCPMVs are derived from motion vectors of neighboring blocks, and theremaining CPMVs may be calculated from other CPMVs of the current block.For example, v0 is derived from the motion vector of a block adjacent tothe top-left corner of the current block, and v1 is derived from themotion vector of a block adjacent to the top-right corner of the currentblock, but v2 may be calculated based on v0 and v1. According to anembodiment, v2 may be determined based on a difference value between v0and v1. The CPMVs obtained in such a way may constitute the motionvector information set candidate described above.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of obtaining a control point motionvector set for affine motion compensation. According to anotherembodiment of the present invention, a motion vector information setcandidate for affine motion compensation of a current block may becomposed of two CPMVs selected from v0, v1, and v2. More specifically,the motion vector information set candidate may include a motion vectorinformation set composed of v0 and v1, and a motion vector informationset composed of v0 and v2. Each CPMV constituting the motion vectorinformation set candidate is derived from the motion vector of theneighboring block. In this case, which set of a motion vectorinformation set candidate composed of v0 and v1 and a motion vectorinformation set candidate composed of v0 and v2 is referenced to performaffine motion compensation may be signaled through the above-mentionedindicator.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, differentmotion vector information sets may be used for each subblock in thecurrent block. For example, v0 and v1 may be used to obtain a motionvector of a specific subblock, and v0 and v2 may be used to obtain amotion vector of another subblock. Which CPMV set is used to obtain amotion vector of each subblock may be determined based on the positionof the subblock in the current block or the distance between thesubblock and each CPMV

FIG. 13 shows an affine motion compensation method combined with localsearch. When affine motion prediction is performed, since the CPMV is amotion vector corresponding to a specific control point (or sampleposition) of the current block, the motion vector of a subblock awayfrom the corresponding position may be less accurate. In order to solvethis, according to an embodiment of the present invention, after affinemotion prediction is performed, local search may be additionallyperformed. The local search may be performed for each subblock. Thelocal search is the process of finding a more accurate motion vector forthe current subblock or a reference subblock more similar to the currentsubblock.

Referring to FIG. 13, affine motion prediction for the current block 60is performed so that motion vectors of each subblock of the currentblock may be obtained as indicated by arrows. The reference subblock 72of the current subblock 62 may be obtained based on the motion vector ofthe corresponding subblock obtained by affine motion prediction. In thiscase, the local search may be additionally performed within thepredetermined range 80 from the reference subblock 72 to find a blockmore similar to the current subblock 62. The predetermined range 80 maybe set in several steps. In addition, since applying a local searchtechnique may require an additional amount of computation, a separateflag indicating whether to use a local search may be signaled.

The local search may be performed by various methods. For example,bilateral matching or template matching may be used for local search.Bilateral matching is a method of estimating a current block from two ormore reference blocks of two or more reference pictures along a motiontrajectory. Meanwhile, a specific embodiment of template matching willbe described with reference to FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 shows a template matching method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. Template matching may be performed to find areference block similar to the current block or subblock. For templatematching, a predetermined region of the current subblock 62 neighboringmay be set as a template. The decoder searches the reference picture forthe region most similar to the set template. If the most similar regionis found, based on the relative position between the template and thecurrent subblock 62, the reference subblock 72 may be determined fromthe most similar region. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, such template matching may be performed within apredetermined range 80 from the first reference subblock of the currentsubblock 62 obtained by affine motion prediction.

In the embodiment of FIG. 14, it is shown that the template exists onthe left and upper sides of the current (sub)block, but the position ofthe template is not limited thereto. However, since the template of thecurrent (sub)block in the decoder should be the part where thereconstruction is completed, the template may be determined inconsideration of the decoding direction of the current picture.

FIGS. 15 to 19 show detailed embodiments of an affine motioncompensation method combined with local search. In the embodiment ofeach drawing, parts identical or corresponding to those of theembodiment of the previous drawing are not described.

FIG. 15 shows a first embodiment of an affine motion compensation methodcombined with local search. According to the first embodiment of thepresent invention, predetermined ranges 81 and 83 for local search maybe set differently for each of subblocks 64 and 66. More specifically,the local search may be performed in a narrow range or a local searchmay be skipped for a subblock in which the accuracy of the motion vectoris estimated to be high. Also, the local search may be performed in awide range for a subblock in which the accuracy of the motion vector isestimated to be low. The predetermined ranges 81 and 83 in which localsearch for each of the subblocks 64 and 66 is performed may depend onthe position of each of the subblocks 64 and 66 in the current block.

Referring to FIG. 15, the predetermined range 81 for finding thereference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 of the current block maybe different from the predetermined range 83 for finding the referencesubblock 76 for the second subblock 66 of the current block. If affinemotion prediction is performed based on v0 which is CPMV correspondingto the upper left corner of the current block and v1 which is CPMVcorresponding to the upper right corner of the current block, the motionvector accuracy of the subblock at the bottom of the current block awayfrom the corresponding positions may be deteriorated. Therefore, a widerrange of local searches may be performed for the subblock. According toanother embodiment, when the CPMV set for the current block is derivedfrom the CPMV set of the neighboring block on which affine motioncompensation is performed, a wider range of local search may beperformed on the subblock at a position away from the neighboring block.

FIG. 16 shows a second embodiment of an affine motion compensationmethod combined with local search. According to the second embodiment ofthe present invention, after affine motion prediction is performed, alocal search may be performed on a specific subblock of the currentblock, and the offset (or refinement value) obtained through localsearch may be used to refine motion vectors of other subblocks.Referring to FIG. 16, after affine motion prediction is performed, alocal search may be additionally performed within a predetermined range81 to find a reference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 of thecurrent block. When a final search subblock of the first subblock 64 ischanged from an initial reference subblock by performing a local search,the offset between the position of the final reference subblock and theposition of the initial reference subblock may be obtained as arefinement value. The decoder may correct motion vectors of othersubblocks using the obtained refinement values. That is, the referencesubblock of the second subblock 66 of the current block may be changedfrom the initial reference subblock 76 obtained through affine motionprediction to the final reference subblock 78 based on the refinementvalue. Through this method, it is possible to reduce the amount ofcomputation according to the application of local search.

FIG. 17 shows a third embodiment of an affine motion compensation methodcombined with local search. According to the third embodiment of thepresent invention, after affine motion prediction is performed, a localsearch may be performed on a specific subblock of the current block, andmotion vectors of other subblocks may be obtained based on the finalmotion vector of a specific subblock obtained through local search.Referring to FIG. 17, after affine motion prediction is performed, alocal search may be additionally performed within the predeterminedrange 81 to find the reference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 ofthe current block. By performing a local search, the final motion vectorof the first subblock 64 may be changed from the initial motion vector.The decoder may obtain a motion vector of the second subblock 65 usingthe final motion vector of the obtained first subblock 64. According toan embodiment, the motion vector of the second subblock 65 may beobtained based on the final motion vector of the first subblock 64 andthe CPMV of the current block. As described above, by using a motionvector corrected for a specific subblock to obtain a motion vector ofanother subblock, a more accurate motion vector may be obtained for eachsubblock.

FIG. 18 shows a fourth embodiment of an affine motion compensationmethod combined with local search. As described above, affine motionprediction using three or more CPMVs may be performed. However, if thenumber of CPMVs for affine motion prediction increases, the signalingburden may increase. Accordingly, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, at least some CPMVs of the CPMV set may be derivedfrom motions of neighboring blocks, and the remaining CPMV may becalculated from other CPMVs of the current block. In this case, in orderto increase the accuracy of the CPMV calculated from other CPMVs of thecurrent block, an additional local search may be performed to obtain thepurified CPMV.

Referring to FIG. 18, among CPMVs v0, v1, and v2 included in the CPMVset of the current block, v2 may be calculated based on v0 and v1. If v2is used as it is to obtain the motion vector of the subblock, inaccuracyin the case of obtaining the motion vector of the subblock using only v0and v1 may remain, so an additional local search may be performed.According to an embodiment, a local search for the subblock 66 closestto the location corresponding to v2 may be performed. That is, byperforming a local search additionally within a predetermined range 83from the reference subblock 76, v2′, which is a purified CPMV, may beobtained. The decoder may use the purified CPMV v2′ to obtain the motionvector of the subblock 68 of the current block. That is, the motionvector of the subblock 68 is calculated based on v2′, v0 and v1.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, purificationfor multiple CPMVs may be performed for more accurate motion vectorcalculation. For example, a local search for a subblock adjacent to alocation corresponding to each of a plurality of CPMVs may be performed.On the other hand, according to the calculation and refinement order ofCPMV, a subblock in which an existing template, for example, thetemplate of the shape described in the embodiment of FIG. 14, does notexist, may occur.

In the embodiment of FIG. 18, when attempting to perform refinement forv2 as template matching for the subblock 66, decoding of upperneighboring samples of the subblock 66 may not be completed. Therefore,in this case, a template having a shape different from the existing onemay be used. As a template for subblocks, a region that is alreadyreconstructed may be used. For example, as the template of the subblock66, left neighboring samples that have already been reconstructed may beused. According to another embodiment of the present invention, only thearea necessary to generate the template may be first decoded using v0and v1. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 18, by first decoding theleft subblocks of the current block using v0 and v1, a template for thesubblock 66 may be obtained for the purification of v2.

FIG. 19 shows a fifth embodiment of an affine motion compensation methodcombined with local search. A template for performing a local search maybe generated using neighboring samples of the current subblock 62. Inthis case, neighboring samples of the current subblock 62 may have asimilar motion to the current subblock 62.

Referring to FIG. 19, the current block 60 of the current picture may bepredicted through the reference block 70 of the reference picture, andthe reference subblock 72 of the current subblock 62 may be refined bylocal search in the reference picture. In this case, as the currentblock 60 is affine transformed into the reference block 70, affinetransformation may also be required in the template region of thecurrent subblock 62. Therefore, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, in order to perform a local search of the currentsubblock 62, a template 85 in which affine transformation is performedmay be used. The affine transformation of the template may be performedbased on at least some of the CPMVs of the current block. In addition,in the process of affine transformation of the template, subsampling,interpolation, or extrapolation of the template may be performed.

FIG. 20 shows an affine motion compensation method according to afurther embodiment of the present invention. According to a furtherembodiment of the present invention, the CPMV used to obtain a motionvector for each subblock of the current block may be different. In theembodiment of FIG. 20, v0 (i.e., the first CPMV) and v1 (i.e., thesecond CPMV) are the same as the previous embodiments, and v21 is thethird CPMV corresponding to the lower left corner of the current block.In addition, v22 is a fourth CPMV corresponding to a position between aposition corresponding to v0 and a position corresponding to v21.According to an embodiment of the present invention, the motion vectorof the first subblock 67 in the current block may be calculated based onv0, v1 and v22, and the motion vector of the second subblock 69 may becalculated based on v0, v1 and v21. Particularly, when the current blockis a block other than a square, motion vector prediction of subblocksusing different CPMV sets may be performed. Meanwhile, in the embodimentof FIG. 20, v21 may be obtained from motion vector information of ablock adjacent to a corresponding position (i.e., a lower left corner ofthe current block), and v22 may be obtained from motion vectorinformation of a block adjacent to a corresponding position (i.e., apoint between an upper left corner and a lower left corner of thecurrent block).

FIG. 21 shows subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of thepresent invention, subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction(SbTMVP) may also be referred to as advanced temporal motion vectorprediction (ATMVP).

When temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP) is performed, the decoderpredicts the motion vector of the current block using the temporalmotion vector of the collocated block of the current block. However,when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block byapplying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector ofthe collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtainedfrom a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of thecurrent block.

The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the currentblock to determine a neighboring block from which motion shiftinformation is obtained. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shiftinformation may include at least one of a left neighboring block and anupper neighboring block of the current block. For example, theneighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upperblock A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upperleft block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performedin the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limitedthereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtainmotion shift information may include a left block L and a lower leftblock BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidateblock of the current block based on the motion shift informationobtained from the neighboring block.

The merge candidate block may be divided into subblocks of N×N. Thedecoder extracts motion vectors of each subblock of the merge candidateblock. In this case, since different motion vectors may be usedaccording to each sample position in the corresponding merge candidateblock, motion vectors corresponding to the center position of eachsubblock may be extracted. In the embodiment of FIG. 21, the subblocksof any first merge candidate block are represented by M1B1, M1B2, M1B3,and M1B4, respectively, and the motion vectors corresponding to thecenter position of each subblock are represented by MV_M1B1, MV_M1B2,MV_M1B3, and MV_M1B4, respectively. If inter prediction is performed onall subblocks of the merge candidate block, and if each subblock doesnot all have the same motion vector, the merge candidate block isfinally determined as the merge block. If intra prediction is performedon one or more of the subblocks of the corresponding merge candidateblock, or if each subblock has the same motion vector, the mergecandidate block cannot be used as a merge block. The decoder searchesfor neighboring blocks in the following order to find merge candidateblocks that may be used for SbTMVP. SbTMVP may be performed based on themerged block determined as described above. Since the above process maybe performed in the same manner in the encoder and the decoder,information on a neighboring block for obtaining a merged block may notbe signaled separately.

When a merge block to be used for SbTMVP is determined, the decoderextracts motion vectors of each subblock of the merge block to predict amotion vector of each subblock corresponding to the current block. Thepredictor of each subblock is obtained using the motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block, and the predictor of the current block isobtained by combining the predictors of each subblock. In the embodimentof FIG. 21, N×N subblocks in the current block are represented by CB1,CB2, CB3, and CB4, respectively. Each of subblocks (i.e., CB1, CB2, CB3and CB4) obtains a predictor of the corresponding subblock using themotion vectors of the corresponding merge subblocks (i.e., M1B1, M1B2,M1B3, and M1B4).

FIGS. 22 to 27 show detailed embodiments of subblock-based temporalmotion vector prediction. In the embodiment of each drawing, partsidentical or corresponding to those of the embodiment of the previousdrawing are not described.

FIG. 22 shows a first embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. FIG.22(a) shows an embodiment of configuring a current subblock by using asignal value of a merge candidate subblock and a signal value of areference subblock based on a motion vector of the merge candidatesubblock. In addition, FIG. 22(b) shows an embodiment of constructing acurrent subblock by alternatively using the signal value of a mergecandidate subblock and a signal value of a reference subblock based on amotion vector of the merge candidate subblock.

Referring first to FIG. 22(a), the prediction block of the currentsubblock CB1 may be generated considering all of the signal value of thecorresponding subblock M1B1 in the merge candidate block of the currentblock and the signal values of the reference block RB1 referenced basedon the motion vector of the corresponding subblock M1B1. In this case, aprediction block of the current subblock CB1 may be generated byapplying an equal weight between the signal value of the subblock M1B1and the signal value of the reference block RB1. According to anotherembodiment, a prediction block of the current subblock CB1 may begenerated by applying an uneven weight based on the POC distance betweeneach reference block and the current block.

Next, referring first to FIG. 22(b), the prediction block of the currentsubblock CB1 may be generated based on any one of the signal value ofthe corresponding subblock M1B1 in the merge candidate block of thecurrent block and the signal values of the reference block RB1referenced based on the motion vector of the corresponding subblockM1B1. In this case, template matching may be performed to determinewhich of the signal value of the subblock M1B1 and the signal value ofthe reference block RB1 is selected. In other words, the decoder maymutually compare the template CB_Template composed of samples around thecurrent subblock CB1 with the template M1B1_Template composed of samplesaround the subblock M1B1 and the template RB1_Template composed ofsamples around the reference block RB1 and refer to a block having asmall difference in values between templates to generate a predictionblock of the current block.

FIG. 23 shows a second embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP.According to the second embodiment of the present invention, whenperforming SbTMVP, a prediction subblock may be generated by dynamicallyusing inter prediction and intra prediction for each subblock.Conventionally, when intra prediction is performed on at least some ofsubblocks in a merge candidate block, the merge candidate block cannotbe used for SbTMVP. However, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, even when intra prediction is performed on an arbitrarynumber of subblocks within a merge candidate block, the merge candidateblock may be used for SbTMVP.

First, referring to the embodiment of FIG. 23(a), intra prediction wasperformed on the last subblock M1B4 among merge candidate subblocksM1B1, M1B2, M1B3, and M1B4 respectively corresponding to subblocks CB1,CB2, CB3, and CB4 of the current block. In this case, the predictionblocks of the subblocks CB1, CB2, and CB3 are obtained using motionvectors of merge candidate subblocks M1B1, M1B2, and M1B3, where interprediction is performed, respectively. Meanwhile, the prediction blockof the subblock CB4 may be obtained by referring to the intra predictionmode value used for intra prediction of the merge candidate subblockM1B4. On the other hand, referring to the embodiment of FIG. 23(b), theprediction block of the subblock CB4 may be obtained using all or partof motion vectors MV_M1B1, MV_M1B2, and MV_M1B3 used in neighboringsubblocks M1B1, M1B2, and M1B3 of the corresponding merge candidatesubblock M1B4.

FIG. 24 shows a third embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP.According to the third embodiment of the present invention, in order toperform SbTMVP on the current block, the most suitable merge block amonga plurality of merge candidate blocks may be selected. Referring to FIG.24, subblocks of any first merge candidate block are represented byM1B1, M1B2, M1B3, and M1B4, respectively, and subblocks of any secondmerge candidate block are represented by M2B1, M2B2, M2B3, and M2B4,respectively. In the conventional case, if inter prediction is performedon all subblocks of the first merge candidate block, and each subblockdoes not have the same motion vector, SbTMVP may be performed based onthe merge candidate block. However, if a plurality of merge candidateblocks satisfy the above conditions, the decoder may perform SbTMVP byselecting the most suitable merge candidate block among the multiplemerge candidate blocks.

More specifically, template matching may be performed to determine themost suitable merge candidate block. In other words, the decoder maycompare the template CB_Template composed of samples around the currentblock neighboring with the template M1_Template composed of samplesaround the first merge candidate block and the template M2_Templatecomposed of samples around the second merge candidate block, and performSbTMVP by determining a candidate block with a small difference invalues between templates as a merge block of the current block. In thiscase, the difference in values between templates may be calculatedthrough Sum of Absolute Difference (SAD) or Sum of Absolute TransformDifference (SATD).

FIG. 25 shows a fourth embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. Thefourth embodiment of the present invention proposes another method ofselecting the most suitable merge block among a plurality of mergecandidate blocks to perform SbTMVP on the current block. In theembodiment of FIG. 25, intra prediction is performed on the subblocksM1B1 and M1B3 of the first merge candidate block and the subblock M2B3of the second merge candidate block. In this case, when a mergecandidate block satisfies a specific condition, it may be used forSbTMVP of the current block.

First, based on the ratio between the number of subblocks in which intraprediction is performed and the number of subblocks in which interprediction is performed in each merge candidate block, it may bedetermined whether the corresponding merge candidate block may be usedfor the SbTMVP of the current block. In the embodiment of FIG. 25, intraprediction is performed on two subblocks among a total of four subblocksin the first merge candidate block, and intra prediction is performed onone subblock among a total of four subblocks in the second mergecandidate block. Accordingly, a second merge candidate block satisfyinga predetermined ratio may be determined as a merge block used forSbTMVP.

Second, based on whether a position of a subblock in which intraprediction is performed within each merge candidate block satisfies aspecific condition, it may be determined whether the corresponding mergecandidate block may be used for the SbTMVP of the current block. Forexample, when the intra-prediction subblock is present in a specificlocation (e.g., a middle region or a bottom right region within a mergecandidate block), this merge candidate block may be used for SbTMVP. Inaddition, when the subblock on which intra prediction is performed issurrounded by the subblocks on which inter prediction is performed, thecorresponding merge candidate block may be used for SbTMVP.

FIG. 26 shows a fifth embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. Asdescribed above, if inter prediction is performed on all subblocks ofthe merge candidate block, and each subblock does not have the samemotion vector, SbTMVP may be performed based on the merge candidateblock. However, according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention, even if the above conditions are not satisfied, a mergecandidate block may be used for SbTMVP.

More specifically, the decoder finds the first merge candidate block inthe order described above. In the embodiment of FIG. 26, interprediction is performed on the subblocks M1B1, M1B3, and M1B4 of thefirst merge candidate block, and intra prediction is performed on thesubblocks B1 and B2. Thus, the decoder obtains the prediction blocks ofeach of the subblocks CB1, CB3 and CB4 of the current block using motionvectors of subblocks M1B1, M1B3, and M1B4 on which inter prediction isperformed are used among the subblocks of the first merge candidateblock. Since the prediction block of the subblock CB2 of the currentblock is not obtained, the decoder searches for the second mergecandidate block according to the above-described order.

When inter prediction is performed on the merge candidate subblock M2B2corresponding to the subblock CB2 in the second merge candidate block,the prediction block of the subblock CB2 of the current block may beobtained using the motion vector of the subblock M2B2. As describedabove, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, aprediction block of a current block may be configured by sequentiallyreferring to subblocks on which inter prediction is performed in one ormore merge candidate blocks.

FIG. 27 shows a sixth embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP.According to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, in order toperform SbTMVP on the current block, motion vectors of multiple mergecandidate blocks may be used together. More specifically, in theembodiment of FIG. 27, when both the first merge candidate block and thesecond merge candidate block satisfy the condition to be used forSbTMVP, the prediction block of each subblock of the current block maybe obtained by using motion vectors of corresponding multiple mergecandidate subblocks together. For example, the motion vector of thecurrent subblock CB1 may be obtained by combining the motion vectorsMV_M1B1 and MV_M2B1 of the corresponding merge candidate subblocks M1B1and M2B1. In this case, a motion vector of the current subblock CB1 maybe generated by applying an equal weight between the motion vectorMV_M1B1 and the motion vector MV_M2B. According to another embodiment, amotion vector of the current subblock CB1 may be generated by applyingan uneven weight based on the POC distance between each reference blockand the current block.

FIG. 28 shows an adaptive loop filter according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As described above, the filtering unit of the encoderand decoder performs a filtering operation to improve the quality of thereconstructed picture. Pictures filtered through the filtering unit arestored in a decoded picture buffer. In this case, the filter in the loopof the encoder or decoder is called an in-loop filter. In addition, anadaptive loop filter (ALF) that applies different in-loop filtersaccording to the characteristics of the filtering target samples may beused. For example, an in-loop filter may be applied according to one ormore gradients, directionality or activities. In addition, a filtershape, a filter length, a filter coefficient, and a range to which thesame filter is applied may be changed according to the characteristicsof the filtering target samples.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the adaptive loopfilter may include filters of various shapes, and the decoder mayadaptively apply them. For example, the shape of the filter may includesquare, diamond, rectangle, circle, and the like. In addition, theadaptive loop filter may include filters of multiple sizes. Here, thesize of the filter indicates a range of neighboring samples consideredwhen filtering a specific sample. Also, for the same filter shape andsize, there may be multiple filter coefficient sets constituting anadaptive loop filter. The decoder may adaptively apply any one of themultiple filters configured as described above.

Referring to FIG. 28, the adaptive loop filter may have three diamondshapes. Each small square in FIG. 28 corresponds to one or more samples,and the values specified in the square represent filter coefficients. Asshown in the drawing, the adaptive loop filter may include 5×5 diamondshapes (i.e., FIG. 28(a)), 7×7 diamond shapes (i.e., FIG. 28(b)), and9×9 diamond shapes (i.e., FIG. 28(c)). The filter coefficient setconstituting each filter may be composed of different filtercoefficients. Alternatively, at least some filter coefficients of afilter coefficient set constituting each filter may have duplicatevalues.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, adaptive loopfilters of different shapes may be applied to the luma component and thechroma component. For example, all three types of filters illustrated inFIG. 28 may be applied to the luma component, and only one type offilter may be applied to the chroma component, for example, a 5×5diamond-shaped filter. According to another embodiment, a set of filtercoefficients applicable to each filter shape may be different for a lumacomponent and a chroma component. According to an embodiment of thepresent invention, information on a filter shape to be used in a decodermay be signaled separately. In this case, the range to which thesignaling is applied may be a picture, a tile (or slice), CTU, or CU.The decoder may perform filtering using a set of filter coefficientscorresponding to the signaled filter shape.

The filtering process of the adaptive loop filter may be performed bysumming the weights between the filtering target sample and theneighboring samples. More specifically, the filtering process of theadaptive loop filter may be expressed as Equation 4 below.

$\begin{matrix}{{R^{\prime}\left( {i,j} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{k = {{- L}/2}}^{L/2}{\sum\limits_{l = {{- L}/2}}^{L/2}{{f\left( {k,l} \right)} \times {R\left( {{i + k},{j + l}} \right)}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, R(i+k, j+l) represents a sample at the position of the coordinate(i+k, j+l) position, and R′(i, j) represents a filtered sample. Inaddition, L represents a filter length, and f(k, 1) represents a filtercoefficient corresponding to the coordinates (k, 1). The filteringtarget sample R(i, j) is corrected to the filtered sample R′(i, j) bythe filtering process.

Referring to FIG. 28(a), sample C6 may be filtered based on Equation 4above. In this case, the filtered sample is obtained based on a valueobtained by multiplying a sample value at a position corresponding toeach square of the illustrated filter by a filter coefficient (i.e., anyone of C0 to C6) of the corresponding square.

Hereinafter, a method of calculating gradient and directionality forapplying an adaptive loop filter will be described. According to anembodiment of the present invention, gradient may mean a change invalue, derivative, acceleration, and the like. In addition, thedirectionality may indicate information such as whether there is a valuemovement or which direction there is a movement. For example, thedirectionality may be determined according to the gradient. According toan embodiment of the present invention, the gradient may be calculatedfor a vertical direction, a horizontal direction, two diagonaldirections, and the like. In addition, 1-D Laplacian may be used whencalculating the gradient.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gradientsg_(v), g_(h), g_(d1), and g_(d2) for the vertical direction, thehorizontal direction, and two diagonal directions may be calculated asin Equation 5 below.

                                 [Equation  5]${g_{v} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - 2}}^{i + 3}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - 2}}^{j + 3}V_{k,l}}}},{V_{k,l} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {k,{l - 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {k,{l + 1}} \right)}}}},{g_{h} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - 2}}^{i + 3}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - 2}}^{j + 3}H_{k,l}}}},{H_{k,l} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},l} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},l} \right)}}}},{g_{d\; 1} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - 2}}^{i + 3}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - 2}}^{j + 3}{D\; 1_{k,l}}}}},{{D\; 1_{k,l}} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},{l - 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},{l + 1}} \right)}}}}$${g_{d\; 2} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - 2}}^{i + 3}{\sum\limits_{j = {j - 2}}^{j + 3}{D\; 2_{k,l}}}}},{{D\; 2_{k,l}} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},{l + 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},{l - 1}} \right)}}}}$

Here, R(i, j) is the reconstructed sample value at the position of (i,j). The coordinate values (i, j) may be representative values of aspecific range. That is, when calculating gradient, directionality, andthe like, representative coordinates (i, j) of a specific range may beselected. For example, the upper left coordinate of a 2×2 block may beused as the (i, j) value of the corresponding block.

Referring to Equation 5, V_(k,l), H_(k,l), D1_(k,l), and D2_(k,l) may becalculated using the sample values of (k, 1) and the values of bothneighboring samples. That is, V_(k,l) represents the amount of change inthe sample value in the vertical direction, H_(k,l) represents theamount of change in the sample value in the horizontal direction,D1_(k,l) represents the amount of change in the sample value in thefirst diagonal direction, and D2_(k,l) represents the amount of changein the sample value in the second diagonal direction.

In this case, gradient g_(v), g_(h), g_(d1), and g_(d2) may becalculated by adding V_(k,l), H_(k,l), D1_(k,l) and D2_(k,l) to apredetermined range, respectively. According to Equation 5, when thesamples used to calculate V_(k,l), H_(k,l), D1_(k,l) and D2_(k,l) have asmall or constant value change in the sample order, the gradient becomessmall. On the other hand, when the samples used to calculate V_(k,l),H_(k,l), D1_(k,l) and D2_(k,l) have a large change in value in thesample order, the gradient becomes large. Therefore, if the gradient fora specific direction is large, it may be said that an irregular changeoccurs in the corresponding direction or the movement is large.According to an embodiment of the invention, the predetermined range forcalculating the gradient of the (i, j) position may be a range in whichan offset from −2 to +3 is applied to each of the x and y coordinates of(i, j).

Meanwhile, directionality may be determined based on the gradientcalculated according to the above-mentioned method. First, a largervalue and a smaller value of the gradients g_(v) and g_(h) may beexpressed by g^(max) _(h,v) and g^(min) _(h,v), respectively. Inaddition, a larger value and a smaller value of the gradients g_(d1) andg_(d2) may be expressed by g^(max) _(d1,d2) and g^(min) _(d1,d2),respectively. The directionality D may be divided into a small movementoverall, a large movement in a specific direction, and a small movementin a specific direction. For example, directionality D may be dividedinto a small movement overall, a large movement in the horizontal orvertical direction, a small movement in the horizontal or verticaldirection, a large movement in the diagonal direction, or a smallmovement in the diagonal direction.

According to an embodiment, the directionality D may be classifiedthrough the following steps. In this case, t1 and t2 are predeterminedthresholds.

Operation 1: If g^(max) _(h,v)<=t1*g^(min) _(h,v) and g^(max)_(d1,d2)<=t1*g^(min) _(d1,d2), D is 0. This may indicate that there is asmall movement in the horizontal or vertical direction, and there is asmall movement in the two diagonal directions. In addition, this mayindicate that there is a small movement as a whole.

Operation 2: If g^(max) _(h,v)/g^(min) _(h,v)>g^(max) _(d1,d2)/g^(min)_(d1,d2), go to operation 3, otherwise go to operation 4. Going tooperation 3 may indicate that horizontal or vertical movement is greaterthan two diagonal movements. Going to operation 4 may indicate that themovement of the two diagonals is greater than the movement in thehorizontal or vertical direction.

Operation 3: If g^(max) _(h,v)>t2*g^(min) _(h,v), D is 2, otherwise Dis 1. If D is 2, it may represent that the horizontal movement isgreater than the vertical movement, or the vertical movement is greaterthan the horizontal movement. In addition, if D is 1, it may representthat the horizontal movement and the vertical movement are notsignificantly different.

Operation 4: If g^(max) _(d1,d2)>t2*g^(min) _(d1,d2), D may be 4,otherwise D may be 3. D=4 indicates that the difference between the twodiagonal movements is large, and D=3 may indicate that the differencebetween the two diagonal movements is not large.

Hereinafter, a method of calculating an activity for applying anadaptive loop filter will be described. The activity may not represent aspecific directionality, but may represent a value indicating theoverall movement of a specific range. In the embodiment of the presentinvention, activity A may be calculated as in Equation 6 below.

$\begin{matrix}{A = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - 2}}^{i + 3}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - 2}}^{j + 3}\left( {V_{k,l} + H_{k,l}} \right)}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 6} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

That is, activity A may be calculated as a value obtained by summing thesample value change amount V_(k,l) in the vertical direction and thesample value change amount H_(k,l) in the horizontal direction within apredetermined range. According to one embodiment, the activity may bequantized and used. That is, A′ obtained when activity A is quantizedmay be used, and A′ may be an integer between 0 and 4.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a sample or asample range may be classified according to characteristics. Theadaptive loop filter may apply different filters according to theclassification (i.e., class). Samples or sample ranges may be classifiedbased on the directionality or activity described above. In this case,the sample range may be a 2×2 block, but the present invention is notlimited thereto. According to an embodiment, the class index C may bedetermined as shown in Equation 7 below based on the directionality Dand the activity A′.

C=5*D+A′  [Equation 7]

Hereinafter, a geometric transformation method of filter coefficientsaccording to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.It is preferable that the most suitable filter is used for each sampleamong the multiple filters applicable in the encoder and decoder.However, since the decoder does not have the original video, it isdifficult to determine the most suitable filter, and the decoder mustselect a filter due to the protocol between the encoder and the decoder.Therefore, the encoder may pass the filter information to the decoder,and signaling overhead may occur in the delivery of this filterinformation. Therefore, the encoder delivers limited filter information,and the decoder may use the received filter information by modifying itor the stored filter information. As an example of modifying and usingfilter information, there is a geometric transformation method as shownin Equation 8 below. The geometric transformation is an operation thatchanges the position of filter coefficients in a specific filter shape.

Diagonal: f _(D)(k,l)=f(l,k)

Vertical flip: f _(V)(k,l)=f(k,K−l−1)

Rotation: f _(R)(k,l)=f(K−l−1,k)  [Equation 9]

Referring to Equation 8, the geometric transformation may includediagonal flipping, vertical flipping, rotation, and the like. K is thefilter size, and k and l represent the coordinates of the filtercoefficients. k and l are 0 to K−1, (0, 0) is the upper left corner, and(K−1, K−1) are the lower right corner.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, filtering accordingto Equation 4 may be performed using filter coefficients on whichgeometric transformation is performed. Through geometric transformation,various filters may be implemented with less signaling. In addition, aset of filter coefficients suitable for a specific motion characteristic(i.e., gradient, directionality, and activity) may be transformed into aset of filter coefficients suitable for other motion characteristicsthrough geometric transformation. For example, filter coefficientssuitable for vertical motion may be transformed into coefficientssuitable for diagonal motion through geometric transformation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the geometrictransformation may be determined by gradient. For example, ifg_(d2)<g_(d1) and g_(h)<g_(v), geometric transformation may not beperformed. Also, if g_(d2)<g_(d1) and g_(v)<g_(h), diagonal flipping maybe performed. Also, if g_(d1)<g_(d2) and g_(h)<g_(v), vertical flippingmay be performed. Also, if g_(d1)<g_(d2) and g_(v)<g_(h), rotation maybe performed. In this case, the rotation may be clockwise rotation orcounterclockwise rotation.

Hereinafter, a method for signaling a filter parameter according to anembodiment of the present invention will be described. The filterparameter may be signaled as a picture level, a tile level (or slicelevel), a CTU level, a CU level, and the like. In order to reducesignaling overhead, the filter parameters may be signaled at a picturelevel or a tile level (or slice level). The filter coefficients may besignaled as the filter parameters. According to one embodiment, in orderto reduce signaling overhead, different common filter coefficients maybe used for different classes (i.e. merge). Also, filter coefficientsstored in the decoder may be reused. For example, a filter coefficientset stored for filtering of a reference picture may be used forfiltering of the current picture. For this, a reference picture indexfor referring to filter coefficients may be signaled.

According to another embodiment, a filter coefficient set may be managedby first-in-first-out (FIFO) for reuse of filter coefficients, temporalprediction, and the like. In addition, multiple candidate lists may bemaintained to support temporal scalability. In this case, a temporallayer index may be allocated to the filter coefficient set. According toanother embodiment, in order to reduce signaling overhead, fixed filtersmay be maintained in addition to the signaled filter coefficient set.When using a fixed filter, the encoder and decoder may transmit andreceive a filter index without transmitting and receiving filtercoefficients. When both the signaled filter coefficient set and a fixedfilter may be used, a flag and a filter index indicating whether a fixedfilter is used may be transmitted.

In addition, information on whether an in-loop filter or an adaptiveloop filter is used, and which filter is used may be indicated atdifferent levels for the luma component and the chroma component. Forexample, in order to apply a more detailed filtering process to the lumacomponent, the signaling level for the luma component may be smallerthan the signaling level for the chroma component. That is, thefiltering process may be controlled in units of CUs for the lumacomponent, and the filtering process may be controlled in units ofpictures for the chroma component.

FIG. 29 shows a filtering process according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. According to an embodiment of the present invention,the range of calculating the above-described class, gradient,directionality and/or activity (hereinafter, sample characteristic) maynot match the filter shape. For example, the shape of the filter (orfilter length) may vary, but mismatch between them may occur whencalculation of sample properties is performed within a predeterminedrange. Referring to FIG. 29, the predetermined range in which thecalculation of sample characteristics is performed is an area of 6×6(indicated by a dotted line), but the adaptive loop filter may have a5×5 diamond shape (i.e., FIG. 29(a)), a 7×7 diamond shape (i.e., FIG.29(b)), or a 9×9 diamond shape (i.e., FIG. 29(c)). In this case, the 5×5diamond-shaped adaptive loop filter is covered by a predetermined range,but the 7×7 diamond-shaped and 9×9 diamond-shaped adaptive loop filtersare not covered by a predetermined range. Thus, samples that are usedfor classes but not used for filtering and samples that are not used forclasses but used for filtering may occur. If this mismatch occurs, theclassification process does not express well the characteristics of therange that affects the sample filtered by the filter shape, so that theperformance of the adaptive loop filter may degrade.

FIG. 30 shows a filtering process according to another embodiment of thepresent invention. In order to solve the above-described problem, apredetermined range for the calculation of sample characteristics may bedetermined depending on the filter shape (or filter length). That is,the predetermined range may be set to a larger value as a larger filteris used. For example, the gradients g_(v), g_(h), g_(d1), and g_(d2) forthe vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and two diagonaldirections may be calculated as in Equation 9 below.

                                 [Equation  9]${g_{v} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{i + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{j + {f\; 2{(L)}}}V_{k,l}}}},{V_{k,l} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {k,{l - 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {k,{l + 1}} \right)}}}}$${g_{h} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{i + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{j + {f\; 2{(L)}}}H_{k,l}}}},{H_{k,l} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},l} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},l} \right)}}}}$${g_{d\; 1} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{i + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{j + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{D\; 1_{k,l}}}}},{{D\; 1_{k,l}} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},{l - 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},{l + 1}} \right)}}}}$${g_{d\; 2} = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{i + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{\sum\limits_{j = {j - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{j + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{D\; 2_{k,l}}}}},{{D\; 2_{k,l}} = {{{2{R\left( {k,l} \right)}} - {R\left( {{k - 1},{l + 1}} \right)} - {R\left( {{k + 1},{l - 1}} \right)}}}}$

In addition, activity A may be calculated as in Equation 10 below.

$\begin{matrix}{A = {\sum\limits_{k = {i - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{i + {f\; 2{(L)}}}{\sum\limits_{l = {j - {f\; 1{(L)}}}}^{j + {f\; 2{(L)}}}\left( {V_{k,l} + H_{k,l}} \right)}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 10} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, L is the filter length.

In the embodiments of Equations 5 and 6 described above, thepredetermined range for calculating the sample value change amountsV_(k,l), H_(k,l), D1_(k,l), and D2_(k,l) is fixed to the range ofapplying an offset from −2 to +3 for each of the x and y coordinates of(i, j). However, according to the embodiments of Equations 9 and 10, thepredetermined range may be variably determined by the functions f1(L)and f2(L) based on the filter length L. That is, the predetermined rangeis determined as a range in which an offset from −f1(L) to +f2(L) isapplied to each of the x and y coordinates of (i, j). According to anembodiment, f1(L) may be floor(L/2), and f2(L) may be (floor(L/2)+1)(where L is 5, 7 or 9).

Referring to FIG. 30, a predetermined range in which the calculation ofsample characteristics is performed may vary depending on the shape ofthe filter. In all cases of 5×5 diamond shape (i.e., FIG. 30(a)), 7×7diamond shape (i.e., FIG. 30(b)), and 9×9 diamond shape (i.e., FIG.30(c)), the adaptive loop filter may be covered by a predeterminedrange.

FIG. 31 shows a filter shape according to a further embodiment of thepresent invention. According to the above-described embodiments, sincethe predetermined range in which the calculation of the samplecharacteristics is performed is a square and the filter isdiamond-shaped, a mismatch occurs between the reference area forcalculation and the reference area for filtering. Thus, according to afurther embodiment of the invention, in order to match the filter shapeand the calculated reference area, both the filter shape and thecomputational reference area may be defined as all square shapes or alldiamond shapes. Referring to FIG. 31, both the filter shape and thecalculation reference region may be defined as a square shape. In thiscase, the filter may have a 3×3 square shape (i.e., FIG. 31(a)), a 5×5square shape (i.e., FIG. 31(b)), a 7×7 square shape (i.e., FIG. 31(c)),or a 9×9 square shape (i.e., FIG. 31(d)).

FIG. 32 shows a method for calculating sample characteristics accordingto a further embodiment of the present invention. In the above-describedembodiments, in order to calculate the sample characteristics, thesample value change amount is performed in four directions, that is, inthe horizontal direction, the vertical direction, the first diagonaldirection D1, and the second diagonal direction D2. However, accordingto an additional embodiment of the present invention, samplecharacteristics may be calculated for additional directions in additionto the above four directions. Accordingly, directionality and classesmay be further defined, and in-loop filtering more suitable to thecharacteristics of the sample and the sample range may be performed.

Referring to FIG. 32, each square represents a sample and directionsadded for calculating sample characteristics are indicated by D3, D4,and D5. Existing sample characteristic calculations for the fourdirections are performed on integer samples, but interpolated valuesbetween integer samples may be used to calculate sample properties atadditional angles. According to another embodiment, samplecharacteristics at an additional angle may be calculated using samplesat a distant location rather than samples at a continuous location. Forexample, to calculate the sample characteristic at position (1, 1), byusing samples at positions (0, −1) and (2, 3), sample characteristicinformation at a new angle (e.g., D5) may be obtained.

According to another embodiment, directionality may be furtherdiversified through gradient comparison using multiple thresholds. Forexample, in the process of classifying the above-mentioneddirectionality D, a class of directionality D may be subdivided usingmore threshold values. As such, as additional directions are used forcalculating the sample characteristic, a geometric transformation ofadditional directions may also be used in the embodiment of Equation(8). For example, flips for angles D3, D4 and D5, rotations for anglesother than 90 degrees, and the like may be defined. In this case,interpolation and padding processes of filter coefficients or samplevalues may be added.

FIG. 33 shows a method for reusing filter coefficients according to afurther embodiment of the present invention. As described above, filtercoefficients applied to a reference picture may be reused to reduce thesignaling overhead of filter coefficients. This process may be performedat the picture level. That is, it is possible to reuse filtercoefficients obtained from one reference picture as a whole of thecurrent picture. In this case, it may be difficult to use variousfilters in the current picture. Therefore, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, filter coefficients of different referencepictures may be reused for each block. In this case, filter coefficientsof a reference picture used for prediction of a corresponding blockamong a plurality of reference pictures may be reused. That is, filtercoefficients that are reused in the current block may be obtained basedon the reference picture index of the current block. Through this,signaling overhead indicating a separate reference picture index forreuse of filter coefficients may be reduced.

More specifically, the calculation result of the gradient and activityperformed in the reference picture may be reused for the current block.Or, the class result calculated from the reference picture may be reusedfor the current block. In this case, since the reference block and thecurrent block in the reference picture will be similar, the gradient,activity, and class result of the reference block may be used for thecurrent block.

FIG. 34 shows a filtering process according to another embodiment of thepresent invention. According to an embodiment of the present invention,when determining directionality, class or filter coefficients, otherinformation of the decoding process may be referenced. For example,directionality, class or filter coefficients may be determined byreferring to the intra prediction mode of the current block. Inaddition, when applying the adaptive loop filter, some calculation ofgradient, directionality, and class may be omitted by referring to theintra prediction mode of the current block.

First, referring to FIG. 34(a), the intra prediction mode of the currentblock may be an angular mode. In this case, it is likely that the samplevalues are similar in the corresponding angular direction. Therefore,when the intra prediction mode of the current block is an angular mode,it may be determined that the gradient in the direction perpendicular tothe corresponding angular direction or in a direction close to thedirection perpendicular to the angular direction is large.Alternatively, it may be determined that there is directionality in adirection perpendicular to the angular direction or in a direction closeto a direction perpendicular to the angular direction. Therefore, thegradient, directionality, class calculation, and the like of the currentblock may be omitted, and based on this, which method to performgeometric transformation may be selected.

Next, referring to FIG. 34(b), the intra prediction mode of the currentblock may be a planar mode or a DC mode. In this case, unlike theangular mode, there is a high possibility that there is littledirectionality in a specific direction. Accordingly, when the intraprediction mode of the current block is a flat mode or a DC mode (i.e.,the intra prediction mode is not an angular mode), it may be determinedthat the gradient is not large in all directions. Therefore, thegradient, directionality, class calculation, and the like of the currentblock may be omitted, and based on this, which method to performgeometric transformation may be selected. For example, in this case,since there is no directionality, geometric transformation may not beperformed.

The filtering method according to the embodiment of FIG. 34 describedabove may be limited to a case where the size of the current block is apredetermined size. Also, a region to which this method is applied maybe limited to a portion close to a reference sample of intra prediction.This is because the intra prediction mode in intra prediction may betterrepresent characteristics of a portion close to a reference sample.

According to a further embodiment of the present invention, whenapplying an adaptive loop filter for a chroma component, it is possibleto refer to adaptive loop filter information for a luma component. Thisis because there is a similarity between the luma component and thechroma component. In this case, the referenced information may include afilter shape, a class, and a filter coefficient. As such, signaling ofthe corresponding information may be reduced by referring to theinformation. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a filterselected from three filter shapes is used for the luma component, andone filter shape is fixedly used for the chroma component. However,according to a further embodiment of the present invention, the filtershape for the chroma component may follow the filter shape of the lumacomponent, and in this case, the filter shape for the chroma componentmay not be signaled.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention can beimplemented through various means. For example, embodiments of thepresent invention may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, ora combination thereof.

For implementation by hardware, the method according to embodiments ofthe present invention may be implemented by one or more of ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs),Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices(PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,microcontrollers, microprocessors, and the like.

In the case of implementation by firmware or software, the methodaccording to embodiments of the present invention may be implemented inthe form of a module, procedure, or function that performs the functionsor operations described above. The software code can be stored in memoryand driven by a processor. The memory may be located inside or outsidethe processor, and may exchange data with the processor by various meansalready known.

The above-mentioned description of the present invention is forillustrative purposes only, and it will be understood that those ofordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs maymake changes to the present invention without altering the technicalideas or essential characteristics of the present invention and theinvention may be easily modified in other specific forms. Therefore, theembodiments described above are illustrative and are not restricted inall aspects. For example, each component described as a single entitymay be distributed and implemented, and likewise, components describedas being distributed may also be implemented in an associated fashion.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claimsrather than the above detailed description, and all changes ormodifications derived from the meaning and range of the appended claimsand equivalents thereof are to be interpreted as being included withinthe scope of present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing a video signalcomprising: obtaining a control point motion vector set for predicting acurrent block, wherein the control point motion vector set includes atleast two control point motion vectors respectively corresponding tospecific control points of the current block; obtaining a motion vectorof each subblock of the current block using control point motion vectorsof the control point motion vector set; obtaining a predictor of eachsubblock of the current block using the motion vector of each subblock;obtaining a predictor of the current block by combining the predictor ofeach subblock; and reconstructing the current block using the predictorof the current block, wherein the obtaining of the control point motionvector set comprises: obtaining an indicator indicating a motion vectorinformation set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block; and obtaining control point motionvectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to themotion vector information set indicated by the indicator.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the control point motion vector setfurther comprising: generating a candidate list composed of one or moremotion vector information set candidates, wherein the control pointmotion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector informationset selected based on the indicator in the candidate list.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the motion vector information set candidate includesa first candidate derived from control point motion vectors of a leftneighboring block of the current block and a second candidate derivedfrom control point motion vectors of an upper neighboring block of thecurrent block.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the left neighboringblock includes a block adjacent to a lower left corner of the currentblock, wherein the upper neighboring block includes a block adjacent toan upper left corner of the current block or a block adjacent to anupper right corner of the current block.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein the motion vector information set candidate includes a thirdcandidate composed of three control point motion vectors, and at leastsome of the three control point motion vectors are derived from motionvectors of neighboring blocks, wherein the third candidate composed of afirst control point motion vector corresponding to an upper left cornerof the current block, a second control point motion vector correspondingto an upper right corner of the current block, and a third control pointcorresponding to a lower left corner of the current block.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein the third candidate includes: a motion vectorinformation set in which the first control point motion vector and thesecond control point motion vector are respectively derived from motionvectors of neighboring blocks, and the third control point motion vectoris calculated based on the first control point motion vector and thesecond control point motion vector.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinthe first control point motion vector is derived from a motion vector ofa block adjacent to an upper left corner of the current block, and thesecond control point motion vector is derived from a motion vector of ablock adjacent to an upper right corner of the current block.
 8. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the motion vector information set candidateincludes a fourth candidate composed of two control point motion vectorsderived from motion vectors of neighboring blocks, wherein the fourthcandidate includes: a motion vector information set composed of a firstcontrol point motion vector corresponding to an upper left corner of thecurrent block and a second control point motion vector corresponding toan upper right corner of the current block, and a motion vectorinformation set composed of a first control point motion vectorcorresponding to an upper left corner of the current block and a thirdcontrol point motion vector corresponding to a lower left corner of thecurrent block.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator indicateslocation information of neighboring block(s) referenced to derive amotion vector of each subblock of the current block among a plurality ofneighboring blocks of the current block.
 10. A video signal processingapparatus comprising: a processer, wherein the processer is configuredto: obtain a control point motion vector set for predicting a currentblock, wherein the control point motion vector set includes at least twocontrol point motion vectors respectively corresponding to specificcontrol points of the current block; obtain a motion vector of eachsubblock of the current block using control point motion vectors of thecontrol point motion vector set; obtain a predictor of each subblock ofthe current block using the motion vector of each subblock; obtain apredictor of the current block by combining the predictor of eachsubblock; and reconstruct the current block using the predictor of thecurrent block, wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating amotion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vectorof each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motionvectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to themotion vector information set indicated by the indicator.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor generates a candidate listcomposed of one or more motion vector information set candidates,wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to amotion vector information set selected based on the indicator in thecandidate list.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the motion vectorinformation set candidate includes a first candidate derived fromcontrol point motion vectors of a left neighboring block of the currentblock and a second candidate derived from control point motion vectorsof an upper neighboring block of the current block.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 12, wherein the left neighboring block includes a block adjacentto a lower left corner of the current block, wherein the upperneighboring block includes a block adjacent to an upper left corner ofthe current block or a block adjacent to an upper right corner of thecurrent block.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the motion vectorinformation set candidate includes a third candidate composed of threecontrol point motion vectors, and at least some of the three controlpoint motion vectors are derived from motion vectors of neighboringblocks, wherein the third candidate composed of a first control pointmotion vector corresponding to an upper left corner of the currentblock, a second control point motion vector corresponding to an upperright corner of the current block, and a third control pointcorresponding to a lower left corner of the current block.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the third candidate includes: a motionvector information set in which the first control point motion vectorand the second control point motion vector are respectively derived frommotion vectors of neighboring blocks, and the third control point motionvector is calculated based on the first control point motion vector andthe second control point motion vector.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15,wherein the first control point motion vector is derived from a motionvector of a block adjacent to an upper left corner of the current block,and the second control point motion vector is derived from a motionvector of a block adjacent to an upper right corner of the currentblock.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the motion vectorinformation set candidate includes a fourth candidate composed of twocontrol point motion vectors derived from motion vectors of neighboringblocks, wherein the fourth candidate includes: a motion vectorinformation set composed of a first control point motion vectorcorresponding to an upper left corner of the current block and a secondcontrol point motion vector corresponding to an upper right corner ofthe current block; and a motion vector information set composed of afirst control point motion vector corresponding to an upper left cornerof the current block and a third control point motion vectorcorresponding to a lower left corner of the current block.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the indicator indicates locationinformation of neighboring block(s) referenced to derive a motion vectorof each subblock of the current block among a plurality of neighboringblocks of the current block.